Garth A. Rattray | Time for ‘World War Tree’

Our planet, the only home that we have, is in serious trouble. However, to be more accurate, we are in serious trouble. When our kind becomes extinct, we shall have left the planet in an ecological mess; the planet will breathe a deep sigh of relief and slowly recover. No other animal has produced this amount of pollution, waste, and gases that are toxic to the atmosphere.

Someone once postulated that dinosaurs were so numerous that their combined flatus produced phenomenal amounts of methane. This toxic gas is very harmful to our atmosphere; and it was thought that, perhaps, this led to their extinction. That theory was eventually debunked. However, even today, methane produced by livestock farming is making some scientists take notice and consider ways of sequestering it in order to reduce its effect on the atmosphere.

More importantly, however, is our harmful effect on the planet’s oxygen and carbon dioxide. Modern living is reducing our oxygen production and increasing carbon dioxide, methane and heat. Thank goodness, we have a large reserve of oxygen…but that is finite. Global warming is badly affecting our oceans (where most of our oxygen comes from). Scientists estimate that 50-80 per cent of the Earth’s oxygen is produced in the oceans by phytoplankton (drifting plants – kelp and algae) and some bacteria that photosynthesise. Not only is our energy and other modern needs warming our oceans, and reducing plankton, they are also changing weather patterns, and reducing rainfall on land, by the wanton destruction of trees.

I remain fascinated by the Amazon Rainforest. It alone produces about six per cent of the entire world’s oxygen. In order to do this, it absorbs large amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Interestingly, the Saharan dust (the same dust that blows over the Caribbean), helps to nourish the Amazon Rainforest, although they are about 8,000 kilometres apart. Obviously, the planet has its own way of taking care of itself, but our interference in the natural course of things is having a terrible impact.

ALARMING RATE

The Amazon Rainforest is dwindling at an alarming rate. It has been destroyed by 15 per cent over the past 30 years. That adds up to about one million square kilometres; bear in mind that Jamaica is 10,099 square kilometres. The rate of deforestation/desecration is increasing (accelerating) by 22 per cent annually. Cattle ranching (which accounts for 75 per cent of farming there), other forms of farming, the ‘harvesting’ (as if they planted them) of trees for various products, mining, colonisation projects, illegal logging, and land speculators are all to blame for the deforestation.

Rainforests are considered the lungs of the planet because they produce oxygen, absorb carbon dioxide, produce the moisture needed for rainfall across the globe, increase local humidity, and stabilise the world’s climate. Although incomparable to massive rainforests, our local forests and individual trees are essential to us, and to the planet. But many people do not see it that way. Most developments simply level whatever areas they think that they might need to construct whatever they want. And, whenever big-money projects are involved, like mining, all trees are deemed expendable. In fact, we need the trees for our long-term survival, while economic projects will come and go.

Obviously, trees are essential to the planet. They produce life-giving oxygen and remove carbon dioxide. They produce the food, provide moisture for rain, shelter from the elements, material for us to use judiciously, and they bind the soil together to reduce erosion and dispersion. Despite all our intelligence and ingenuity, killing us is relatively easy – a human can only survive a few minutes without air, we die easily from thirst and starvation, we overheat or freeze without substantial protection and succumb to trauma. Our lifespan is, on average, only several decades.

Trees, on the other hand, can survive most trauma, limited droughts, extreme temperatures, weather fluctuations, and live for decades or centuries. Trees are durable because their purpose here is greater than ours. When humans become extinct, the trees will go on and flourish without us. On the contrary, if all trees die off, so will we and many other animals. We must respect trees and not treat them as disposable inconveniences to ‘development’.

DWINDLING RAPIDLY

Green spaces are dwindling rapidly. The rapaciousness of some developers is causing this. Several of them [illegally] sell off the lots reserved for green spaces (parks) within developments…and they get away with it. Interestingly, our soil has high levels of cadmium, manganese, copper, arsenic and lead, individually or combined in several areas; only 159 square kilometres is safe from too much heavy-metal contamination – and this appears to be within the Liguanea Plain (in St Andrew), which has been fairly denuded for residential and commercial developments.

Our concrete jungles are reducing moisture; causing stormwater run-off, and therefore reducing the aquifer; and producing localised hotspots (due to the albedo effect). This results in reduced rainfall, and a need for more energy to keep us cool. Worldwide, it should be mandatory to preserve trees as much as possible; and if that is not possible, it should be obligatory to plant replacement trees nearby or on other approved lots to compensate. If we are to secure our future on this planet, we must start thinking of the fight to save trees as ‘World War Tree’, and do everything to preserve them.

Garth A. Rattray is a medical doctor with a family practice. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and garthrattray@gmail.com.